Student Art from Arizona

This art comes from Arizona, where Elizabeth White taught her second graders how to make shades of red and blue, and then painted my Lincoln and Washington mural. I love the handpainted look of them, and would one day like to try this myself. Thank you for sharing Elizabeth, and please thank your talented students too!

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Student Art from Kansas City, MO

Melissa from Student Age Child Care (a school program provided by the local school district) emailed me her butterfly with a note that said, “We have about 60 students who all range from K-5 so its pretty hard to think up projects that are not to difficult for our kindergarten kids yet not boring for the older ones. . . I know the mural online is beautifully done so I was scared how it would come out since our different age groups have different levels of artistic ability. I think a lot of kids these days get caught up in the idea that everything has to be the right color, i.e: grass green, sky blue. I used our butterfly as an example of how something not perfect can be amazingly beautiful and unique.” I totally agree, Melissa!

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Student Art from Oregon

Last week I received this email:

“Attached is a photo of the O’Keeffe Poppy Mural we made for our school’s auction this year. It was completed by Ms. Kenney’s 3rd and 4th graders at Westridge Elementary in Lake Oswego, OR. We used acrylic paint on canvas paper and then attached them to a large 30x40 canvas. The original sold quickly at the auction and raised a lot of money for our PTSO. We also sold reproductions that were scanned prior and printed on a smaller canvas. Thanks so much for the download and guidance!  — Jennifer Pahl”

Thanks so much Jennifer for sharing your school’s work, which got incredible results with acrylic paint and canvas paper. I have to try that combo myself . . . very soon!

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Student Art from Mukilteo, Washington

How cute is this? Can you believe that 1st graders made these amazing Picasso Cubism faces? Sonji Sackett, a dedicated art docent, followed my Cubist Paper Bag Costume project and emailed me her results. She noted that “This was one of my best projects this year in terms of the kids being excited by the process and happy with the result. Being able to then put the bag on made it a home run!  Thank you again for all that you share.” Thank you Sonji for keeping art in our school’s classrooms, and thank you to the talented 1st graders at Mukilteo Elementary, WA. Keep on drawing kids!

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Student Art from Eagle Mountain, UT

I love these Andy Warhol-style cats painted by a third grade class at Hidden Hollow Elementary in Eagle Mountain, UT. Debbie, a mom and art volunteer in her son’s class wanted to proudly share their work, and I can see why. These cats are all so cute and colorful, congrats to teacher and students on a job well done!

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Student Art from Roseville, CA

This beautiful Kandinsky art comes from Ms. Domen’s 2nd grade class at Maidu Elementary in Roseville CA. A parent, Tisha Chinn, wrote that the watery glue and canvas worked really well for her. She also recommended “BIC brand permanent markers...their colors are so rich, much more so than Sharpies. The pens were 70 cents each at Staples if you purchased 10 or more and I had the kids takes turns and share to keep my costs down.” Thanks for the tips Tisha, and thanks so much for taking time out to share your beautiful artwork. Best wishes for your school’s annual art auction!

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Turkeys from Brentwood, CA

Volunteer art docent Tricia, from Brentwood, CA sent these beautiful turkeys painted by 4th graders. Based on my "One More Turkey Drawing" project, she had the students draw them on 12x18 white paper with Sharpies. They added oil pastel accents and finished with water color from edge to edge. Absolutely beautiful use of color! Thanks so much for sharing them, Tricia.

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Student Art from Minnesota

Last week I received this wonderful photo from a 4th grade class in Royalton, Minnesota. Their teacher, Erin, had tried out my Picasso Paper Bag Costume project with her entire class and agreed to share her results. Are these a bunch of cute and creative kids or what? I love all the colorful faces and the animated posing too, it really makes for a wonderful photo. Thanks kids, for letting me share your art with my readers.

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Student Art from Georgia

This student art was sent in by Laura Kim of Roswell, Georgia. She was writing to share what her students did with my Landscape Collage project, and I just adore the results, so whimsical and colorful. I would challenge any professional artist to match the personality shown in these. Below is Laura’s description of how her students created their art.

“First day we talked about landscapes and I had the kids paint a 9x12 paper with turquoise tempera cakes. After that, we talked about painting pages from an old book in an effort to recycle. I also talked about getting permission to rip up an old book. I demonstrated to the children how to paint one page green, one page yellow and then another page any ONE color of choice except for black (we used watercolors). If the kids finished all of this, then I kept allowing them to come and get pages to paint ONE color of choice until time ran out.

"The second week I placed their turquoise paper at their seat along with a yellow and green page (we painted as a collaborative effort). We discussed collage and I demonstrated how to cut out simple shapes and glue. They were allowed to come and get pages of other colors from the front table once they completed the grass and sun. We also did a lot of sharing!

"The third week we used a thick sharpie marker and outlined our shapes and added doors and windows if there were not cut and glued.”

Thank you so much Laura for sharing this inspirational work!

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Butterflies from Chile

I was so touched to receive these amazing butterfly mural photos yesterday. They were sent by Lorena Siqués Sambuceti who teaches at “Centro de Tratamiento ASPAUT,” a school for autistic children in Vina Del Mar, Chile. The teachers printed out the butterfly templates and painted the borders with metallic paint or crayon. The rest was done by children ages 4 – 8. The students used watercolor, acrylic paint, little pieces of tissue paper, silk and cellophane. They showed off their work in the outdoor art show pictured above.

Thank you so much for sharing with us, Lorena. I just love the color and variety of these butterflies. I never thought of using tissue paper, but I'll have to try it now. Please congratulate your young artists on their beautiful murals.

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Butterfly Mural Tutorial

To see a tutorial on how one teacher in Wisconsin used my butterfly mural template to create this beautiful work of art with her students, just click on the image above. It will take you to her site “Gallery 2404” where she generously shares her process with lots of photos and instructions. Thanks so much to Kathy Link for allowing me to share this!

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Student Art Gallery

Thanks so much to Brad V. and his 4th grade class in Alexandra PS. They sent in samples of one of their latest projects, Ivory Coast animal drawings. I adore all the patterns they put in their animals, and all the bright color around them. What terrific pieces of art, kids!

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